


Begin Again

by fairy_tale_echo



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: 5 Things, Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Gets Plums, Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Spoilers, Forgiveness, Healing, M/M, POV Bucky Barnes, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Probably Gonna Disregard That Mid-Credit Scene, Second Firsts, Slow Build, Steve and Nat reconcile, Those Darn Plums
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2016-05-25
Packaged: 2018-06-09 23:45:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6929254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairy_tale_echo/pseuds/fairy_tale_echo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five (second) firsts for Bucky Barnes.</p><p>(or - five experiences Bucky gets to have  all over again from the moment he and Steve walk away from Siberia.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. laugh

**Author's Note:**

> Oh no, MCU and Bucky/Steve have ruined my life. I was taken with the idea that as Bucky begins to come back into himself and deal with the consequences of being the Soldier he also has the joy of re-experiencing for the first time, consciously, many things most people never remember. So, I wanted to write something that tried to really feel and dig into the impact of all those _second_ firsts - something that was bittersweet but joyful too. ('cause I love that and think Bucky deserves that.) 
> 
> I have all five planned out but I was getting caught in writing them so I figured posting the first two parts would be good motivation to get me going with them (uh and I could gauge if anyone besides me was actually interested in reading them all.) So - feedback of all kinds is greatly appreciated and will totally be helpful! (This is only my second time in MCU and this is dashed off without a beta (yikes) so let me hear it.)

The first big, deep belly laugh, the kind that shakes your shoulders, reaches deep inside you and brings up something good – happens at the most unlikely of moments. 

He’s been smiling again – even with every awful thing, he’s been smiling.  Since he looked up and got to share that memory of worn out old shoes with Steve, it seems like bit by bit it’s getting a little easier to smile.  Maybe even to chuckle.  But a long, shaking laugh … Bucky wasn’t expecting that so soon.

He and Steve are battered and bruised, dragging each other through the Siberian snow, hoping to somehow get to the Quinjet and go who knows where. There’s no plan, there’s just get to the jet, get out.  They make it over a small hill and finally can see the jet – but standing next to the jet, unmistakable in the bright white snow, is the Panther. 

Bucky knows, in this second, they are done. 

Over the past two years, the sensation of pain has come back to Bucky in waves.  The Soldier never felt pain but Bucky – he remembers flashes of it, and in the past two years has sometimes even tried to make himself feel it. But it’s nothing like this – the fight with Stark has not only ripped out his arm, the heavy weight that has balanced his world, but it’s left every part of him thrumming with pain.  And though Steve is dragging Bucky with a grim determination, Bucky can see him wince with every step.  His face is streaked with blood and he doesn’t even have the shield anymore.

They can’t fight – to be honest, Bucky is impressed they’re both upright and moving forward. He hears Steve take a breath and Bucky hears a shaky rattle in it, which pulls at a memory thread in the back of his mind, Steve used to breathe like that a lot. “On three,” Steve wheezes, “I’m gonna let you go and you run, Buck.  You run as far as you can and I’ll engage him.  Don’t let him get you.”

And that’s when Bucky laughs.

In this moment, everything falls away.  He remembers the Steve who weighed 98 pounds soaking wet getting ready to jump into a fight with guys twice his size because it was the right thing to do – he remembers the Steve who’d get his ass beat for principle, who’d never walk away.  Bucky thinks of the times he’d find Steve struggling to stand up and get in a punch, no matter the odds.

And he _laughs_.

“Stevie, we can barely stand up.  You ain’t gonna win.”

Laughter. Pure, genuine laughter.  It feels so good.  The Soldier could barely remember pain but he certainly never knew laughter. This laughter is Bucky’s. And so … so is Stevie.

These past two years, as Bucky has rebuilt his memories, his self – he’s suspected that. But now he **knows**.  Knows it like he knew how to seamlessly fight with him, tossing that shield back and forth without pause.  Knows it like he knew that Steve would stand up even when Stark told him to stand down. 

Bucky pulls on the thread of memory and remembers every fight Steve would never walk away from and that little half-smile on Steve’s face, the one he’d get when Bucky was trying to talk some damn sense into him, the one that’s on Steve’s face here in the worst of situations, well Bucky remembers that too. 

“I can – I can take him.” Steve gasps out.

 “Oh, Stevie.  You’re still that same stupid kid,” Bucky hiccups out between laughs.

Steve, _his_ Steve _not_ Captain America, smiles back. A huge, real smile this time.  “Look whose talking.  You’re the stupid one…jerk.”

Bucky can’t stop laughing.  They’re going to die out here in Siberia, but he’s going to die as Bucky Barnes, with his own memories and Stevie beside him and _laughter_ and that is so much more than the Solider could have ever imagined.

And just as Steve is getting ready to drop Bucky and charge into a fight he can’t possibly win, just as it’s all about to end, Bucky sees the Panther hold both hands up and to his side, palms out.  It is the universal sign of “I mean you no harm.”  And maybe, just maybe, it means this is when it’s all about to begin instead.


	2. sleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _rest: verb  
>  1\. cease work or movement in order to relax, refresh oneself, or recover strength._

He can’t say those first three nights in Wakanda pass for sleep. 

The coordinates were programmed into the Quinjet so he and Steve stumbled into the bunks and dropped. At some point, Steve rolled out of his bunk and dug up some dry rations and water. Bucky has some memory of actually getting it to stay down, but the waves of pain from where the arm used to be keep rolling over him.  He thinks maybe Steve passes out on the floor at some point.  Either way – the jet is getting them away and that’s all that matters at the moment.

He goes in and out from the moment they touch down in Wakanda and are swarmed by an extraordinary amount of people who look very concerned for his health and well-being considering only recently they believed he blew up their former King.  The Panther wasn’t kidding when he said they would be welcomed as friends.

He and Steve are hauled off the Quinjet and immediately put on side by side stretchers when they both stumble while trying to stand up. The only struggle Steve puts up is that, no matter what, they mustn’t be separated.  If anyone on the Wakandan medical rescue staff finds this strange, they don’t mention it. Bucky makes sure to nod vigorously when Steve is making the demand so they know he agrees. He can’t do much more because he can feel himself slipping away even as he looks up and appreciates the beautiful green leafy canopy surrounding the airfield. His memory glitches.  If he has to go in for maintenance again – _no please_ – _this isn’t – he doesn’t have to_ – at least it’s somewhere beautiful and green and not the damn Artic.

Steve keeps trying to sit up even though half the rescue team is urging him to lay back. He rolls over in his stretcher to face Bucky, almost tipping it over and sending himself to the ground. Steve’s voice is raspy but insistent. “You don’t have to go back. We’re just going to let them help us. I promise I won’t let them – “ Steve’s trying to pull himself off the stretcher and that’s it, that’s enough.

Bucky’s memory is getting jumbly – he thinks of the frail Steve he always had to make sure got enough sleep and food and even blankets and then he thinks of _this_ Steve who is so beat up he can barely stand (he’s got to have broken bones and internal bleeding and God knows what else) and the one thing Bucky knows is a constant truth is that he’s gotta make sure that Steve can rest and it seems the only way to do that is –

He reaches to Steve, holding out his hand. “S’okay, Stevie,” he slurs. “Let’s just – s’okay.  We’re gonna be OK.”

Steve grabs his hand, squeezes so tightly, and finally lays back down, holding on to Bucky’s hand. Steve’s going to rest now.  So Bucky lets himself slip away too.  It’s enough. For now.

But it’s not sleep.

\--

He comes in and out after that and he always checks his surroundings for Steve.  He’s there, every time, he’s there.  The first few times Bucky blinks into consciousness, Steve’s laid out in a bed beside him, so Bucky knows he must have been worse off than he’d suspected. But after that, Steve’s just sitting quietly beside his bed.  Sometimes he’s looking at Bucky and other times he’s staring off into the distance.  Somehow this makes it easier for Bucky to stop trying to fight the tide.  He goes out, he shuts down.

The Soldier never slept.  It’s taken two years for Bucky to take sleep back, little by little. And he can still go _days_ without it.  The first few days in Wakanda aren’t sleep but they aren’t that different than what he’s gotten used to recently, especially once the doctors get the pain of his stump under control.  On the fourth day, he can finally sit up and look around – which makes Steve jump right out of his seat.

He trips over his words. “You’re awake – see I’m right here and you’re not – we’re in Wakanda and these are great doctors everyone here is amazing and you’re going to be, well you’re not going to be – you’re just healing, you _are_ healing they promised me and I –“

Bucky coughs, just a bit. “Calm down and get me some water, will ya punk?”

Steve grins.

\--

Steve’s right – the doctors are amazing.  Dr. Elmi is the first doctor he’s spoken to in about 70 years who makes eye contact and actually speaks _to_ him not just _about_ him.  She is direct and calm and she explains to him in great detail the steps they took to close up the wound along his shoulder joint.  “It is not easy to hear, but you have the right to know,” Dr. Elmi says and it’s like a fucking revelation to hear a doctor say this.

Steve’s there the whole time, of course, and he has a grimace on his face that looks like it might give way to sobs at any moment.

“You are healing even more quickly than we hoped, Mr. Barnes,” Dr. Elmi says, her voice soothing and a little pleased.  “The work on your shoulder was not easy, especially with the – the wiring,” she falters for just a split second but then gives him a reassuring smile and continues. “But even that has begun to heal.  You will be able to be fitted with a fine prosthetic soon.”

After he and Steve thank her over and over and she makes sure to talk about all the work of her talented team of doctors and nurses, Bucky asks one of his most urgent questions.

“When can I get out of this room and sleep in a real bed?”

It’s one more night in the hospital room, Dr. Elmi says, just so they can get a little bit more information on how his body is doing.  For the first time in days, Steve doesn’t sit all night in the chair – because Dr. Elmi has ordered a little roll-away for him. Bucky laughs at the sight of Steve scrunched up on the bed.  He used to be such a little guy, Bucky’s memory supplies in one of those suddenly clear memories, he would have fit just fine. “Stop laughing and go to sleep,” Steve mutters in the darkness.

Bucky lets himself go.  It’s a process without pain, but he’s not sure he counts it as sleep.

\--

They go outside the next day.  Bucky finds out how…different it is to walk and move without the heavy weight of the arm. He feels so much lighter but still somehow off balance. He knows it’s affecting his steps and making him a little uncertain. But Steve doesn’t say anything about that, just keeps pace and walks beside him in the patio area outside the medical facility.

“It’s beautiful here,” Steve says.

Bucky looks around and everything feels so damn new. Bucky’s been all over the world but he never made it to Wakanda – at least not that he can remember. They have tight borders they control zealously, so he can imagine Hydra never wanted to risk getting the asset caught there.  Now everything looks so bright and vivid.

“I like it,” Bucky says, taking a deep breath, feeling it all the way down to his feet.  “I’m sick of the cold.”

Steve clasps his shoulder.  “Me too.”

\--

They have set up two simple rooms for them in the medical facility.  As Dr. Elmi shows them to their rooms she explains the facility usually acts as a research center but had been set up as a triage and hospital for the two of them.

“When King T’Challa contacted us to let us know you were on your way, we quickly set up an area to treat you, but usually this building is where the best minds in Wakanda work to innovate and create. We have the best trained security staff but want for you to be comfortable. His Highness has expressed that you are to be treated as our most honored guests. Your accommodations are simple, but his Highness has asked you stay here until he has returned just so he can be assured you are safe. Naturally, you are free to go anywhere on the grounds you would like, we’re a large complex with the finest facilities.”

“Of course,” Steve says.  “We’re so grateful for everything, we can’t thank you enough.  This is fine. We’re glad to be here.”

The rooms are right across from each other.  They have huge windows that look out into the jungle and king size beds that dominate most of the space.  They have private bathrooms and each room has a small night table and a large chair.  Without thinking, Bucky calculates how long it would take to make it out of the room and to the exit door at end of the hallway.  Hell, they’re only on the fifth floor, he can make that jump. And then it hits him, a slow intense creep of panic: he doesn’t have the arm so how will he break the window if he needs to? What if he’s trapped in this room? Without the arm – damn it. The panic intensifies, Bucky can feel it tightening in his chest. He should tell Dr. Elmi he needs another room, somewhere with clearer escape routes because he can’t be –

“These are perfect, thank you.” Steve says, his voice level.  “But we only need one room.”

Bucky can breathe.

\--

“You don’t have to stay with me,” Bucky says that night and as soon as the words are out of his mouth, he feels how ridiculous they sound. 

“It’ll be better if we’re together,” Steve answers, firm and without hesitation. And that’s the whole answer.  From the second he walked into his apartment in Bucharest and Steve was there, from the time he was six years old, from the moment he looked up in that prison camp and saw Steve and thought he had died, from the very beginning to right this moment, that’s the whole and truest answer.

It's better if they're together.

This night, Bucky doesn’t just turn off or slip under or force his body to sleep or pass out from pain. For the first time in – in – more years than are possible, Bucky matches his breathing with Steve’s steady rhythm right beside him.  This night, Bucky finally lets himself relax – that’s actually, truly the word for how it feels – and fall asleep.

(And if he wakes up the next morning with Steve curled tightly around him, that steady rhythm of breathing turned into snoring right under his ear, well that’s nobody’s business but theirs.)


	3. feast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _savor: verb_  
>  1\. taste (good food or drink) and enjoy it completely.

The Panther returns four days later.  In the days before his return, Bucky and Steve have daily check-ins with Dr. Elmi and meet other people on her team.  Bucky has even begun meeting with people about his replacement prosthetic. They also take walks outside every day, Bucky loves the way the sun and humidity feels on his skin.  They walk a little out into the forest and Bucky is dazzled by the green, the _feel_ of it.  Sometimes when they’re outside, Bucky will just stop, turn his face up to the sun, and close his eyes.  Steve likes to take that moment to reach over and squeeze his hand and, well, Bucky thinks that makes the sun feel warmer.

And they sleep, oh do they sleep. Now that Bucky has found a way to let himself go into sleep, pacing himself to Steve, it seems like there’s a lot of rest of catch up on – especially for Steve.  They laze around in bed for hours.  After their second day of hours of sleep, Steve broaches the subject with Dr. Elmi.  She smiles and pats Steve reassuring on his forearm. “Captain Rogers, you and Sargent Barnes arrived here in conditions that almost killed you both. Even with your accelerated healing, it is normal that you both need some time to … recuperate.  Rest is natural.  You shouldn’t fight it.”

Bucky suspects maybe Steve hasn’t done a lot of resting since the moment they pulled him out of the ice. His memory tells him Steve didn’t do a lot of resting during the war either. So maybe it’s OK they spend 10 hours in bed, more often than not curled up together.

They find out the Panther will be returning from Dr. Elmi. “His Highness is returning to Wakanda tomorrow morning. He sent word that he is eager to speak with both of you.  He was told of how well you are both healing and he was greatly pleased.”

“So are we,” Bucky says and he’s almost used to how easy it is to smile.

\--

“I’m scared,” Steve says that night.

They’re side by side in bed in the dark of their room.  Steve just says it – no preamble, no defense.

“Of what?” Bucky asks, genuinely mystified.

“I’m scared of what T’Challa is going to say about what happened when he went in to get Zemo and … and Tony.  I’m scared about what he’s going to have to report about the team.” Steve’s voice is whisper quiet.

Bucky feels a churn of emotions including – he can’t deny it – something suspiciously like happiness. Happiness that Steve is this honest with him, happiness that Steve isn’t treating him like someone who might break.

So he does the only thing he can, tries to offer Steve some kind of comfort.  “Stevie, it’ll be like you said: whatever it is, we’ll deal with it.  _We’ll_ deal with it.”

Steve’s breathe hitches one or twice but then evens out.  Bucky feels brave.  He doesn’t wait for sleep. He slings an arm around Steve’s waist and pulls him close. “We’ll deal with it,” he repeats.  And he knows this is true.

\--

There is no lazing the next morning.  Bucky and Steve both wake early, anxiousness hopping between them like a live thing. They quickly get dressed and head to the room where they take their meals.  King T’Challa is there waiting them, working on a small computer.

He looks up and smiles ( _smiles_ ) when he sees them enter. 

Steve immediately bows low before the King. “Your Highness,” Steve says, his voice cracking just the smallest bit, “we can never begin to thank you for the sanctuary, the care, the trust. We can’t thank you enough for – for everything. We are in your debt.”

Bucky bows too. He keeps it simple. “Thank you so much, Your Highness.”

The King nods at them, and motions for them to stand.  “You are both most welcome.  I apologize for my own recklessness.  I was … grief can make you not yourself, as you might know.  My father … my father was the best of men.  He was a leader beyond compare.  And he believed in fairness and justice above everything.  Much like you, Captain Rogers.”

“Please, call me Steve.”

The King smiles warmly. “Only if you call me T’Challa.”

“With pleasure, T’Challa.  Now can you update us on what’s happening outside Wakanda?”

T’Challa’s expression turns grim and fixed.  “Please take a seat.  There is much to discuss.”

\--

“As far as I can tell, the only one not currently imprisoned on the Raft is Ms. Romanova,” T’Challa quirks a small smile at this. “She fled before she could be detained.”

“Atta girl,” Steve whispers.

T’Challa gestures in agreement. “Now we must make arrangements to free your team as soon as –“

Bucky can’t help himself.  He’s gotta interrupt. He has definitely begun to let himself relax in Wakanda over the past week and he is as grateful as Steve’s said.  Even if they two of them could have gotten away in Siberia without advanced medical help, well, he doesn’t like thinking about what would have happened with his arm. And he believes the King’s apology out there in the snow, how he heard Zemo and knew the truth now and wanted to help in the spirit of his father.  But this – breaking out Steve’s team?  This is a whole other step.

“Look – no offense.  I am beyond grateful for everything.  But I have to ask, your Highness, why are you suddenly on the side of freeing the team?  What turned you against the Accords?”

“That’s a fair question,” T’Challa says with a nod.  “For one thing, what has happened to your teammates is not just.  The Accords called for an international tribunal hearing for violations.  My father and I never wanted to have punishment without due process. We wanted the Accords in place for  _more_ transparency when it came to actions like Berlin, but this seems to be the opposite. Even if your friends didn’t sign the Accords, they should still be granted these basic rights.  And the Raft – Mr. Barnes, it is no ordinary prison. It is not a place for heroes like your teammates. They have made mistakes, surely, but nothing to warrant the level of security and – and punishment of the Raft.”  Bucky winces a little at that, at the thought of Steve's team locked up in a place with _punishment_ \- it's an involuntary response.  Steve reaches over and gives his back a quick rub of reassurance but his face is drawn and anxious as well. 

T’Challa's voice was thoughtful. “This tells me that some of the Americans who pushed for the Accords, General Ross in particular, were perhaps not above board in their dealings with us and the United Nations. They might even come to consider me as a threat or _attempt_ to involve Wakanda now that they’ve seen what I am capable of.  The kind of power that thinks it can lock your team away like that, with no trial in a very bad place – well that makes me wary of their motives. We so recently discovered that your government had been infiltrated that I think we must consider –“

“HYDRA.” It was a single word, but Steve’s voice was fire.

“Indeed.  And so I think, Mr. Barnes that it is in _the world’s_ best interest to get the Captain’s team out of the Raft. I spoke with Mr. Stark several times before my return to Wakanda. While nothing was stated directly, I believe that while he is still grieving for his friend and,” T’Challa paused for a moment “any revelations from Siberia, he has also become suspicious of the Raft and of General Ross’s true motivations. Stark will need some time to heal but I think reaching a hand out to him would not go amiss.  Are you amenable to that, Steve?”

There is a long silence.  When Bucky turns to Steve, he sees that he has his head bowed and is staring blankly at the table.  It’s his turn to comfort Steve.  But another back pat just doesn’t feel right.  He reaches across the table and grabs Steve hand. If he’s startled, he doesn’t show it.  He just flips his hand over and intertwines his fingers with Bucky’s.  They sit like that for a minute or two, in the quiet, holding hands on top of the table right in front of the King of Wakanda while Steve gets his emotions under control and his thoughts in order.

“Yeah.  We can reach out to Tony. I’ll – if you can get it to him safely – I’ll write him a letter.  And – and I agree we need to be ready, as a team, for _anything_ that might arise.”

When he meets Bucky’s eyes, Bucky can see the bittersweet regret in them.  Steve thought dropping that shield meant the war was over.  But Bucky knew you don’t ever get to walk away that easy. 

“That means we'll need to get the misfits out of the Raft,” Bucky says resolutely, giving Steve a soothing half-smile and squeezing his hand.

T’Challa murmurs in approval. But Stevie – oh, Stevie smiles as bright as the sun.

“ _We_.  You said _we_ will Buck,” he says, a touch of wonder in his voice.

Bucky shrugs and tries not to think about what that means. Saying he and Steve will face something together, well, that's one thing.  Saying something as firm as that they'll go on some mission together, well that's a whole other. That's a whole new level of being together, working together ... _sticking_ together. He’ll … deal with that later.  “They’re your team,” he replies.

Steve looks to T’Challa and then back to Bucky.  He can’t stop grinning. “ _Our_ team.  They could be _our_ team.”

T’Challa chuckles.  “One step at a time, Steve.  Why don’t we discuss it over breakfast?”

\--

There are piles of sweet and crispy rice and coconut cakes, pots of tea and coffee, bowls of thick Greek yoghurt, plates of thin, soft crepes, a hearty stew made with spicy beef, and piles of fruit. It smells wonderful.

For Bucky, food has been like sleep – something the Soldier never had to be concerned with.  In fact, he doesn’t have any clear memories of _ever_ eating as the Soldier.  He took sustenance, when needed, from IVs and slowing down to eat on mission would have resulted in punishments. So, over the past two years, Bucky had been remembering how to eat but he wouldn’t exactly say he was some kind of gourmet.  The first week or so until he’d obtained money he mostly ate out of garbage cans behind supermarkets.  They threw out so much good food it seemed wasteful. And even once he’d started buying his own food, it felt more like an inconvenience than a luxury. One more reminder of his stupid, frail humanity, not something to take any delight in.

He’s eaten since he woke up in Wakanda, bits and bites here and there, mostly because Steve said he was hungry and they went rooting around in a kitchen. But this morning, seeing the enormous spread of delicious food, walking into the cafeteria with Steve still stubbornly clinging to his hand like a lifeline, the sun streaming in and T’Challa welcoming them – this morning for the first morning since they arrived in Wakanda, it comes to him all in a rush: Bucky remembers the sweet pleasure of food.

And so, it seems, does his body.  “Bucky … I think your stomach just growled,” Steve has a laugh in his voice. It feels so … _human_.  So alive.  Maybe it’s the way Steve marveled at how Bucky used “we” and maybe it’s that it felt right to use “we” at all.  Or maybe Bucky’s discovering it’s good to be hungry for something.

“Then his stomach is very smart,” T’Challa says proudly. “Wakandan food is the best in the world. Come, let us eat!”

Steve reluctantly drops Bucky’s hand – probably the stomach growling did it – and they begin to load up plates.

As they sit to eat, Bucky realizes he wants to taste everything. The bread, T’Challa informs him, is called canjeero, and it’s served at many Wakandan meals.  It melts in Bucky’s mouth and he uses it to scoop up the stew, which is somehow the perfect breakfast food. Steve smiles at him the whole meal.

It’s OK to want things – he thinks – it’s OK to feel pleasure.

Which reminds him …

“Hey, T’Challa,” he says, swallowing another rice cake, “is there any way you can get some plums?”

T’Challa has a big, booming laugh.  Bucky decides he likes it.  “Plums?  Of course.  We shall have plums at once.”

Bucky decides he’ll save them for an afternoon snack.  And he’ll eat them outside, in the shade.  With Stevie by his side.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since there's some debate in canon about where exactly Wakanda is located, I chose to make it have food similar to food you'd find in Somalia (according to [Marvel Atlas #2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wakanda_\(comics\)#Location) it would be near there.) So the food described here is some of what I found while researching Somali cuisine and breakfast. It sounded delicious! 
> 
> There's some info dumping in the story, but I wanted a chance to show T'Challa being the kind, thoughtful, intelligent bad-ass with good emotional coping skills we all came to love and admire. And it gives a little "what then?" after the movie which, of course, is what this fic is all about. And, yes, as we veer away from the mid-credit scene (don't worry, I'll cover that too..) I AM _slowly_ bringing Bucky/Steve closer to resolving that UST because I want it to mirror their journey of healing and figuring out what next and how will it work and all that good stuff.
> 
> And YES...Bucky gets some damned plums. 
> 
> ANY comments/feedback/reblogs is greatly appreciated and beloved (still sort of can't believe I am writing this and, uh, people don't seem to hate it??) as I whip the last two parts into shape. Thanks for reading!


End file.
